Four post-retirement Jordans, one colour. Jordan Brand's Holiday 2026 "Black Pack" opens on 3 October with the Air Jordan 16 in Black/Off Noir, style code IZ2586-001, and it is the most interesting shoe in the set because it is the one people still argue about. Sneaker News published the official images on 21 September. The shroud is on. The patent toe is on. The price is either $240 or $245 depending on who you read.
The 16 is a strange shoe to resurrect in exotic-luxe form. It launched in 2001, after Michael Jordan's second retirement, with Mos Def fronting the ad campaign and a removable gaiter that half the buying public pulled off and lost within a week. Twenty-five years later, that gaiter is the selling point.
What Is Actually on the Shoe
Sneaker Bar Detroit and Modern Notoriety both describe the same build: premium tumbled black leather across the upper, mesh set into the tongue and heel, the signature removable shroud retained, and glossy patent leather wrapping the toe box. Midsole and outsole stay black. Nothing on this shoe is not black. Off Noir is the official second colour, and it is a shade of black.
Both outlets list $245. SneakerFiles and Nice Kicks list $240, and Nice Kicks calls the colourway Black/Anthracite rather than Black/Off Noir. StockX has the shoe listed pre-release under IZ2586-001 in Black/Off Noir with the 3 October date, which settles the colourway name. The $5 gap does not settle until SNKRS posts the page. Budget for $245.
Sizing is men's only. Distribution is where it gets tight: SBD says select NBHD stores, SneakerFiles adds SNKRS. Either way this is not a Foot Locker general release. It is a boutique drop dressed up as a retro.
How to try: NBHD stores in the US, UK and Japan run raffles or first-come drops in the days before 3 October, and SNKRS carries it in the markets where the app operates. India is not one of them, so the realistic routes are a friend abroad entering raffles for you, or a proxy service that charges a flat fee rather than a percentage of the shoe. Set a ceiling before you start. Ours is $300 all in for a size 9 to 11, and we would not chase past it.
The Rest of the Pack
SneakerFiles has the full lineup. Same day as the 16, the Air Jordan 14 Low "Black Ostrich" (IZ3884-001) drops at $240 in actual ostrich leather. On 7 November the Air Jordan 15 "Snakeskin" (IZ2585-001) and the Air Jordan 17 Low (IZ2638-001) follow, both at $240. Four shoes from the 1999 to 2002 window, the years the Jordan line was designing without Jordan on an NBA court, all in black exotics.
That framing is smart. The 14 Low, 15, 16 and 17 are the hardest sells in the numbered line, and Jordan Brand knows a coloured retro of any of them would sit. All-black exotic materials turn a hard-sell silhouette into a shelf piece for the people who already own everything from 1 to 13. This pack is not for new collectors. It is a loyalty product.
Resale: Nothing to Report Yet, and That Is the Point
We pulled the StockX page on 22 September. Style code, colourway and release date come through. Last sale and lowest ask show loading placeholders, which is what StockX does for a shoe with no completed transactions. There is no market on this pair yet, only sellers waiting for stock, so anyone quoting you a premium this week is pricing your impatience.
The comparable history is not encouraging for flippers. The 16 has never been a resale shoe. It is a shoe people buy because they want it, wear twice, and keep. An NBHD-only black exotic will sell through because the run is small, not because demand is deep. Expect a modest premium in the first fortnight and a drift back to retail by December when the 15 and 17 arrive and split the same buyers three ways. If you are buying to hold, the AJ14 Low "Black Ostrich" on the same day is the likelier pair to keep its value: exotic leather on a low silhouette has a wider audience than a shrouded high.
The India Maths
Nike India has no history of carrying NBHD-tier Jordan retros, and this pack is unlikely to break that pattern. Every pair in India will be an import or a reseller listing. At Trading Economics' 22 September rate of ₹95.65 to the dollar, $245 is about ₹23,400. Land it honestly and the 35 percent basic customs duty, the 10 percent surcharge on that duty and 18 percent IGST compound to roughly 1.634 times declared value, which puts the shoe near ₹38,300 at your door before any reseller margin.
That is Air Jordan 4 collaboration money. For context, the Air Jordan 3 "Black Cement" we priced in June sits well below that at Indian retail. If you are choosing between one grail import this quarter, the 16 needs to be a shoe you have wanted since 2001, not a shoe you discovered on Monday.
Fit note: the 16 runs true to size but the shroud adds bulk over the forefoot and the patent toe does not stretch. Wide-footed buyers should not size down. Wear it with the shroud on for the first month. It looks better than you remember and it keeps the toe box from creasing.
Verdict
Honestly, this is the best the 16 has looked in years, and the all-black exotic treatment hides the silhouette's awkward proportions better than any colour could. If you can get it at $245 through an NBHD raffle, buy it and wear it. If the only route is a reseller at ₹40,000 plus, walk. The 14 Low "Black Ostrich" on the same day is the better shoe for the same money and the easier one to style with straight denim and an oversized bomber.
We stock the Jordans people actually wear every week. Browse the Jordan range for what is in India right now.
The 16 has had a good year. Ghana's Free The Youth took the silhouette in a completely different direction with metallic silver, and we covered why that collab mattered in Free The Youth x Air Jordan 16 "Metallic Silver".
